Adapting to Life as…Whatever the Heck We Are
by TheManOfMadness
Summary: When the Main 6 are transformed into furless, magic-less, bipedal creatures, they'll have to learn how to live in their new bodies.
1. The Day Before

Chapter 1: The Day Before

"Delivery for Twilight Sparkle. Sign here please."

Spike sighed at the sight of the stallion in front of him. It wasn't that he was against signing for packages and other deliveries; as Twilight's number one assistance, he often had to sign for such things on her behalf. It was the delivery itself that made him sigh: it was a cart overflowing with books. That many books meant Twilight was not going to leave the library for several days, maybe a week, which would be dangerous to her health and her social life.

Reluctantly, Spike signed for the books and dragged the cart inside. At first he was going to leave the cart at the door until somepony could help him move it and return to the throne room, where Twilight and her friends were having a casual meeting. However, he then got an idea: if he showed the others the cart, they would also be worried for her, and be able to help if things got too bad. Feeling proud of himself for coming up with such a clever plan, he hoisted the reins to the cart on his shoulders and made his way down the long hallway to the throne room.

After what felt like hours (but in reality was about thirty minutes), Spike managed to reach the end of the hall. When he opened the door, he heard the ending of a story that Rainbow Dash was telling.

P"And that's how I saved Ponyville from the runaway tornado!" she exclaimed, earning various oohs and aahs from her friends.

"Ah say, that was mighty brave of you, Dash." said Applejack.

"Yes, darling. Quite courageous." agreed Rarity

Rainbow Dash smiled proudly "Aw, it was no big deal. I just did what anypony as awesome as me would have done."

"Oh, but didn't you say that the tornado destroyed a good portion of your home?" Fluttershy questioned.

"Uh, yah," Rainbow replied sheepishly, "but the builders will be able to fix it in a few days. I just need a place to stay until then."

"Well don't worry, Dash," Twilight proclaimed, "you are welcome to stay here at the castle for as long as you need."

"Thanks, Twi." Rainbow answered, "One question, though: will I have to stay in the same room as those books?"

She pointed a hoof at the door, where Spike had dragged in the cart of books into the room. When Twilight saw them, a huge smile adorned her face. As soon as the other ponies saw this and the huge cart, almost all of them became concerned about their friend. Starlight, being new to the group, had a few questions..

"Umm, is it normal for this place to receive that many books?" she asked.

"Eeyep," said Applejack, "but it never bodes well for Twi's health."

"Oh, don't worry, Applejack," Twilight replied calmly, "these books aren't for reading."

"WHAT!?"

Noticing the shocked looks on her friends' faces, Twilight decided to elaborate. "Well, most of them I'll read later, but the main reason there here is to be inspected. You see, these books are supposed _cuuurrrrsed_." She dragged out and put a fake spooky tone on the word "cursed." The other six ponies and lone dragon stared at her, then broke out into giggles.

"Cursed? Honestly, Twilight, you can't believe that?" asked a still chuckling Rainbow Dash.

Twilight smile sheepishly and continued. "Well, allegedly. A long time ago, after the era of Discord and after Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon, ponies were worried that those two might have left behind objects affected by their magic. In their state of fear and paranoia, they started seeing such objects everywhere. Despite there being little evidence supporting their claims, the ponies demanded that anything accused of being cursed be destroyed. Celestia, not wanting to destroy potential relics Pof history and sources of knowledge, instead placed these objects in a secret vault where they would remain hidden until ponies had moved past such superstitions and she could put them back into society. These books are a small portion of such objects."

"Okay, but that don't explain why all those books are here and not in the Canterlot Library." Applejack stated. Twilight had an answer for her.

"Well, just because the ponies back then were quick to accuse something of being cursed doesn't mean they were wrong. Therefore, Celestia wants me to inspect these books before making them available to the general population, just to be safe. After they're inspected, I will send them right back to Canterlot." The other ponies in the room were still skeptical of whether or not Twilight would send the books back, but decided to trust her.

"Alright then, Twilight, we trust ya," Applejack said, "but we'll be keeping an eye on ya for your own good."

Twilight sighed. She was saddened that her friends didn't completely trust her to take care of herself, but thinking back to previous events like this, she couldn't blame them for their decision. "Alright, deal."

Now that the tension was gone, Rainbow Dash started to make her jokes. "Man, I can't believe some ponies believed these books could be cursed. I mean, look at them!" She picked up a book from the cart and read the title. " _Botany for beginners_? What kind of curse could come from that, the curse of growing plants?"

"Ooh, ooh," Pinkie exclaimed, grapping another book from the pile, "what about this one: _Celestia's Coloring Book_ , curses you to see things in different colors than they actually are."

Starlight, seeing an opportunity to create a bonding moment with her new friends, used her magic to grab a book and continued the gag. "Uh, _Pony Anatomy 101_ , will curse you to, uh, understand anatomy better?" She gave a sheepish grin to Rainbow and Pinkie, who stared at her with looks suggesting that it wasn't that good.

"We'll have to work on your joking improv." Rainbow said. Starlight sighed at this and placed the book in question on the map in front of them.

"You shouldn't be joking at all." Twilight scolded, "Those would all be serious curses that could be hurtful to some pony." She looked at the three jokesters with a disapproving glare, encouraging all three to apologize.

"Sorry, Twilight." The trio said.

"Still would be lame curses, though" Rainbow quietly added.

"Well, no more of this talk about curses and books and what naught." Said Applejack. "We've had our meeting, now we're going to go on that picnic we talked about. This proposition got several nods and sounds of approval. As the group went out the door, Twilight turned to Spike.

"Spike, want to come?" She asked. "I've packed a few gems in the basket if you want to."

"Are you kidding?" Spike exclaimed. "No way would I miss out on gems, and a chance to hang out with Rarity!" Twilight rolled her eyes as her young assistant raced ahead of her.

No one noticed that the book Starlight placed on the map began to gently glow a strange mix of teal and green. The glow spread from the book to the map, which then spread to the six thrones surrounding it. It then disappeared, as if it had never been there.

* * *

"Thanks again for letting me stay here, Twi." Rainbow Dash said. She, Twilight, Spike, and Starlight were outside Twilight's room, saying their goodnights before going to their own rooms. "Are you sure I can't do anything for you in return? Make you breakfast or something like that?"

"Don't worry about it, Dash." Twilight assured "You just get a goodnight's rest."

"Okay, then. Goodnight, everypony." Rainbow, turned and made her way to her room. After she left, Starlight groaned and rubbed her horn, as if nursing a headache. Twilight noticed this and became worried.

"Is everything alright, Starlight?"

"Hmm? Oh it's nothing major. I've just felt a little drained today. I'm sure I'll be fine after a good night's rest."

"Well, okay." Twilight said, not completely convinced but not wanting to push the issue too hard. "You just let me know if it gets any worse, okay."

"Oay. Good night Twilight. Good night Spike."

"Good night!" They called out to her, leaving only Twilight and Spike in front of the door. Before Spike left for his room, the young alicorn spoke to her number one assistant.

"Get a good night's sleep, Spike. We have a big day tomorrow inspecting those books."

"I will, Twilight." He assured. "Good night, Twilight." He said as he made his way down the hall. Twilight smiled softly at her friend, then went inside her room, climbed into bed, closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Twilight was sleeping peacefully, until she started to hear a familiar voice and felt someone nudging her awake.

"Twilight! Wake up Twilight!"

"Hmm?" Twilight began to stir at the voice. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes to see that it was barely morning. Wondering who woke her up so early, she rolled over in her bed to see Spike, who had a worried look on his face. "Spike? What's wrong?"

"Twilight! Thank Celestia you're okay!"

"Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Okay, umm, don't freak out too much, but you look, umm, different from when you went to bed."

"Different? What do you mean?" Twilight asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

That's when she saw it.

Her leg was gone! In the place of a hoof was a strange looking limb. It was furless except for a layer of extremely thin hairs, which were protruding from a tan-beige colored skin. At the end of this limb was not a hoof, but a strange appendage that was flatter than the limb. This appendage consisted of a center mass made of the same skin as the limb and five small smaller limbs that extended from it.

Twilight stared at the strange limb and appendage that replaced her leg and hoof with wide eyes. Her mouth hung open, but no words came from it. She blinked a few times, but the limb was still there. She wasn't sure how to process this change to her body structure, and thus continued to stare. Spike, seeing his friend in distress, spoke up.

"Uh, Twilight? Are you okay?"

That's when the scream finally came out of Twilight's mouth.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hello! and welcome to my first story ever! I've been on both Fanfiction and Fimfiction a few months now and while I've seen "Human in Equestia" stories and "One of the Main 6 Turn Human and go to our World" stories, I have not seen any "Main 6 Turn Human and Stay in Equestia" stories. Thus, I have decided to write one myself. Now, like I said, this is my first story, so don't hold back on the constructive criticism about grammar, structure, or anything. I want to make this story good not just for me, but for you too.**


	2. Morning Discoveries

Chapter 2: The Morning

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The sudden noise woke Rainbow Dash. "Wha? What's going on?" She recognized the sound as a scream. Immediately, her protective instincts kicked in. "Someponies in trouble. DON'T WORRY, I'M COMING!" she shouted and moved to launch herself toward the sound. However, instead of taking off like she expected, she stumbled out of the bed entangled in the sheets. "Hey, what gives?" she asked as she untangled herself. When she finally got free, she looked to her back to see what was wrong with her wings. She didn't expect the answer.

"W-Where are my wings?!" On her back, instead of the wings she was so proud of, was nothing! She wasn't a pegasus anymore! But that wasn't the only thing missing from her body. "Where is my fur?!" she asked out loud. She began to use her hoof to feel her back, hoping to find some trace of her blue coat. Then she noticed something else was off. "Where is my hoof?!" As she continued to look herself over, she discovered her entire body had changed. "WHAT'S HAPPENED TO MEEEEE?!" she wailed loudly.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

Rainbow heard the scream that woke her up again. This time, she recognized the source of it. "Twilight." she said. Then she realized something, "If my body's changed, then Twilight's might of too." She brought the thing that had replaced her hoof to her mouth and shouted, "DON'T WORRY, TWI. I MAY NOT BE AS AWESOME AS USUAL, BUT I'M STILL COMING!" With that, she ran towards the sound. As she ran, she thought to herself, "Once Twilight's calmed down, she'll know exactly what to do."

* * *

As the sun rose, Applejack rose with it. Her day was about to start the same way it always did: first she'd get breakfast, then go do her chores on the farm. After those were done, she'd go into town and hang out with her friends. She climbed out of the bed ready to start the day.

Then her face hit the floor.

"Uhg," She groaned, "what happened? The floors not usually that far away." She looked at her front hoof to see if something was wrong with it. Her eyes grew wide as she realized there was. "What the?!" she exclaimed as she looked at the strange thing that had replaced her front hoof. Both of her front hoofs, in fact. She looked down to her back hoofs to see if the same thing had happened to them. She saw that, while they didn't look like the things that had replaced front hoofs, they definitely had changed into something.

Applejack was starting to panic. "Okay," she thought, "I'm not a pony anymore. This isn't good." She started to think about how this could affect her. Her ability to help on the farm, how her friends would look at her. Wait, her friends! "Twilight!" she exclaimed, and she rushed out of her room to the kitchen.

Big Mac was there eating breakfast. When he saw the strange creature running out of Applejack's room, his eyes grew wide. Before he could take a fighting stance and confront the creature, it ran up to him and started talking.

"Big Mac, it's me, Applejack." the creature said. "Listen, I don't know what happened to me, or what I've turned into, but it's still me." Big Mac thought it sounded like Applejack, and there was just something about it that just felt like his sister. He decided to trust his instincts and dropped his defensive stance.

Applejack breathed a sigh of relief that her brother believed her, and continued. "Ok, I'm going to head over to Twilight's. If there's anypony who knows what to do about this, it's her. Can you cover for me until I get back?"

After hearing that Big Mac knew it was his sister. No other pony had that much faith in her friends or that much concern for the farm work. He nodded his head and said, "Eeyup." In his usual way.

" Thanks, bro. I owe ya." Applejack said as she raced out of the house towards Twilight's castle. With that commotion out of the way, Big Mac returned to his breakfast and continued eating.

* * *

Rarity woke up feeling groggy. She had a new project and decided to work on it last night before bed. Unfortunately, she stayed up working on it longer than she planned, thus causing her to not get as much beauty sleep as normal. Reluctantly, she got out of bed and moved toward the kitchen. She felt like something was off when she got to the floor, but she'd worry about it after she got the miracle liquid known as coffee into her system. She glanced at the mirror in her room, where she saw a strange creature looking back at her. She shrugged then walked past it. She almost made it to the door when she realized what she saw. She rushed back to the mirror just to make sure. When she saw the creature staring back at her, she realized this creature was _her_.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" she screamed. She just stood there at the mirror screaming until Sweetie Belle burst in.

"Rarity! Are you all riiiighhhh?" Sweetie Belle said, before laying eyes on the creature once known as Rarity. Her pupils shrunk as she deduced what she was looking at. "MMMMMMONSTER!" she yelled as she started to run out of the room. Before she could, Rarity rushed over to her and grabbed her. Sweetie Belle began to shiver in fear.

"Sweetie Belle, it's me, Rarity." she said, hoping to calm her down a bit.

Sweetie Belle looked at the creature and saw a look of sisterly concern in its eyes. She stopped shivering as she realized who this creature was. "Rarity?" she asked, "but you're so, so…"

"HIDEOUS!" exclaimed Rarity, "I know! My wonderful coat is gone, my beautiful tail has disappeared, and my polished hoofs have been replaced by…THESE THINGS!" She thrust what used to be her front hoofs into Sweetie's face. Then she put one leg to her forehead and continued to wail. "Oh, there is nothing left of the beautiful mare that was once known as Rarity."

"Oh, that's not true." said Sweetie Belle, trying to calm her sister down. "You still have your glorious mane."

"Hmm?" Rarity moved back to the mirror. Sure enough, her mane was still had the same fabulousness to it that it always did. "Yes, well, I suppose that's something" she calmly agreed. "But STILL!" she exclaimed, back in her state of overdramatic panic, "That is but an island of beauty in a sea of ugliness. Oh, how could this have happened to me?" she asked, beginning to sob.

"Well," Sweetie Belle began to point out, "Twilight might know what happened."

This caused Rarity's eyes to pop open and a look of determination to appear on her face. "Yes! That's it!" she exclaimed in her dramatic monologue voice, "If anypony knows what to do, it's Twilight! I shall head over to her castle and together we will return my body back to its beautiful, original form!" With that, she left the room and made her way down the hall. Before she could head down the stairs to the boutique, Sweetie spoke up.

"Uh, are you going to go outside looking like that?" she asked.

Rarity stopped in her tracks and realized what she was about to do. She turned to her sister and smiled sheepishly. "Uh, of course not. Thank you, dear. Could you, uh, please go downstairs and get my cloak for me?"

* * *

Pinkie Pie woke up in her usual way: with a smile. She sat up, stretched her front legs, and then looked at her pet alligator. "Good morning, Gummy." she said. Gummy, as usual, just blinked at her. This caused her to giggle and bring her hoof to her mouth. "Oh, Gummy, you're so talkative in the morning." After that, she noticed that her hoof was gone and replaced with something else.

Pinkie stared at this new…thing attached to her front leg. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but it was interesting. She moved her leg about, causing the thing to wiggle about. She giggled at the strange movement it made, then noticed other parts of her body had changed. She was curious, so she shook this new body to see what it would do. She noticed these two things that looked like balloons attached to her chest that jiggled when she moved. Whatever happed to her, she was beginning to like it. Before she could explore this body further, Mrs. Cake walked in.

"Oh, Pinkie. It's time to get up and to woooooowhaaat?"

Pinkie beamed at her. "Hi, Mrs. Cake! Look at Me! I'm all wiggly and jiggly now!" she said as she continued to shake.

"Erm, I see that dear." Mrs. Cake said with worry in her voice. "Umm, Pinkie, do you know how you got all, umm, 'wiggly and jiggly,' as you say?"

Pinkie thought for a moment, then shrugged. "I don't know."

"Well, maybe you should go talk to Twilight about it."

Pinkie looked at for a second then smiled, "Okay." She got out of bed and bounced to the stairs. As she hopped down the first step, she tripped and stumbled down. "Hmm" she pondered, "that doesn't usually happen. This might be more serious than I thought." She could have thought harder about it, but decided she needn't bother. "Oh well, I sure Twilight will know what to do."

* * *

Fluttershy was sleeping peacefully, dreaming of her animals, when she felt something jumping on her. With a groan, she opened her eyes and saw Angel Bunny bouncing on her, obviously trying to wake her up. This was confusing; while Angel was sometimes a bit impatient with what he wanted, he usually respected her sleeping time. He only woke her when there was a dire emergency.

"What's wrong, Angel?" she asked, sitting up. Angel continued to look at her with wide eyes, as if he was concerned for her. Then he jumped off the bed and left the room, which cause her to raise an eyebrow in confusion. A few seconds later he returned with a hoof-held mirror. He jumped back on the bed and turned it toward Fluttershy. In the mirror's reflection, instead of Fluttershy's face, was a strange looking animal she had never seen before.

"Eep!" she squeaked, and hid under the covers by instinct. Nervously, she peaked out and took a closer look at the mirror and the creature in it. "Is that….me?" she asked. As she continued to inspect the strange face, she thought it looked odd, but beautiful. Whatever this new animal she turned into was, she was eager to learn more about it.

"Oh, I can't wait to show my friends." she squealed. Then she thought about her friends and how they would react. Would they freak out and call her names? Would they abandon her? Fluttershy shook her head. "No, my friends would never do that to me." she said confidently. Then something dawned on her: "But other ponies might." She got nervous again. While she thought this would be a wonderful experience for her, she decided to find a way to go back to normal.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she just noticed Angel Bunny staring at her with a look that said he wanted answers. "I'm sorry, Angel." Fluttershy said, "I don't know what happened, but I think I need to fix it." She got out of bed and headed downstairs. "Hopefully, I'll be back soon. I need to head over to Twilight's. She'll probably know what to do about this." Angel didn't look completely satisfied with that answer, but he nodded his head in agreement. Seeing that, Fluttershy headed out the door and headed to Twilight's castle, taking care to avoid main roads so other ponies wouldn't see her.

 **Author's Note:**

 **And here's the second chapter. I thought it would be fun to see how the rest of the mane 6 would react to their new bodies. It also gave me the chance to practice writing each of their personalities. If I'm portraying a character incorrectly, it's best to find out in chapter 2 instead of chapter 10. If you see any problems in characterization, or any problems at all, please let me know so I can fix it and improve my writing. If you don't see any problems, still let me know so I don't second guess myself in the future.**

 **Finally, if you were wondering why this story has a teen rating, I believe a line in Pinkie's section will explain that. Overall, though, it shouldn't get too descriptive or even be a big point of focus.**


	3. Meeting Up and Freaking Out

Chapter 3: Meeting Up and Freaking Out

Twilight had no idea what to do.

She had been screaming near nonstop for the last few minutes. It was a bit like a cycle: she would discover some new part of her body, then let out a high pitched scream. Discover, scream, discover, scream. All the while, Spike was trying to calm her down.

Suddenly, the doors flew open and slammed against the walls. Between them was a creature similar to what Twilight had become. The main difference was that it had rainbow colored hair and it look ready to attack. "I heard screaming. What's going on?" the creature said. Then it looked at Twilight and got an angry look in its eyes. "Alright you … thing. You're going to tell me what you did to Twilight, or you're gonna get it!"

Twilight gasped when she heard what it said. That confident and loyal attitude could only belong to one pony. "Rainbow?! Is that you?!"

"That's right, now start talking!" she threatened, and started to make her way to the bed.

"No, wait. Rainbow, it's me! It's Twilight!"

When Rainbow heard this, she stopped her advance to take a closer look at the being in Twilight's bed. Now she could see that the being had the same features as her friend. "Twilight?! What happened to you?"

"Same thing that happened to you, it seems." Twilight answered. "In other words, I HAVE NO IDEA!"

Then a new figure entered the room at a fast pace. "Twilight! I've got a problem!" It then stopped at the bed and looked at both Twilight and Rainbow. "Looks like I'm not the only one."

Twilight was startled at the induction of a new creature, but the Stetson she was wearing gave away who she was talking to. "Applejack?! What are you doing here?"

"Well, I woke up, saw that I had become this thing, then ran over here to see if you can fix it. I was in the main hall when the screaming started." Applejack looked at her friends and sighed. "Looks like you have the same problem, though."

Twilight was starting to worry. If this had affected the three of them, then who knows how many ponies were affected. This could be a nation-wide epidemic for all they knew!

The doors then opened to reveal Starlight Glimmer. She was rubbing her eyes and trying to wake herself up. "What's with all the commoti-?" Before she could finish her question, she saw the strange creatures that were both in and had surrounded Twilight's bed. Her eyes grew wide and she stared at them in silence. Suddenly, one of the creatures, the one in Twilight's bed, started smiling. It attempted to get out of the bed, which means it got tangled in the covers and fell over. After spending a minute getting itself untangled, it rushed over to Starlight. It walked on all fours, which looked weird as its back legs appeared to be longer than its forelegs. Once it got to Starlight, it sat down and wrapped its forelegs around her in a hug-like manner.

"Oh, Starlight! Thank Celestia you're still normal!" The creature said.

Starlight was confused. How did the creature know her name? But then she realized whose voice it had. "Twilight?"

"Oh I was so worried." Twilight continued, as if she hadn't heard her. "I was starting to think that everypony in Ponyville, no Equestria, had been transformed into, well, whatever we are. But now that I know that's not the case! It's the first bit of good news we've gotten since we woke up!"

"Uh, okay." said Starlight, still trying to wrap her head around everything that was going on. "So, if you're Twilight, I guess that means that those two are Applejack and Dash, right?"

"Yep." answered Twilight, still hugging her student and smiling.

"And you have no idea how this happened nor what you've turned into?"

"Not a clue."

"Okay, then. One final question: why is Applejack covering Spike's eyes?"

Twilight stopped hugging Starlight and looked behind her to see what she was talking about. Sure enough, Applejack was covering Spike's eyes with her forelegs. In addition, she was wearing an awkward smile and had a small blush on her face. Rainbow Dash had the same look on her face.

"Um, Applejack, why are you doing that to Spike? And what's with the looks on your faces?"

"Oh, um, well" Applejack stuttered. "You see, Twi, uh, you know how we no longer have fur or tails?" Twilight nodded in response. "Well," Applejack continued, "this means that uh certain … parts are more visible."

Twilight just stared at her friend, wondering what she meant. "Applejack, if you are going to tell me something about this body, just say it."

"We can see your privates." Rainbow simply stated.

That statement sent Twilight back into the state she had been in for most of the morning: wide eyed and screaming. Only difference was that this time she had her forelegs crossed in front of her, as if she was covering herself up.

"Rainbow!" Applejack scolded. "I was trying to break it to her gently!"

"Oh, she was going to start screaming again no matter how we told her!" Rainbow defended.

"Oh, for Celestia's sake!" Spike pushed Applejack's legs off his head, walked over to Twilight, and grabbed her shoulders firmly. "Twilight! Calm down! Remember your breathing exercises!" Twilight, looking at him, stopped screaming and started breathing rapidly. "Slower." She breathed less franticly. "Slower." She breathed down to a normal pace. "Now deep breath, hold, and release." They both sucked in a large amount of air, held it for a few seconds, then exhaled at the same time. "You feel better, now?" Spike asked, to which Twilight nodded.

"Okay, now that you're calmer, the solution to this should be obvious." Spike pointed out. Twilight tilted her head in confusion. Spike sighed, then explained, "We send a letter to Celestia. If anypony knows what happened and how to fix it, it's her."

Twilight bopped her head. "Of course! One simple letter and this will all be cleared up. Spike, if you would please do the honors?"

Spike rushed over to the desk and grabbed a blank scroll and a quill. "Ok, ready when you are Twilight." Twilight cleared her throat and began.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I apologize for the lack of formal introductions but we have an emergency. I, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack have somehow been transformed. We do not know how this happened, whether or not we are the only ones to have been affected, nor what we've been transformed into. All we know about the creature is that it has no fur or tail, nor does it appear to have any connection to magic. Our hope is that you can somehow assist us in solving this problem.

Your fellow princess and friend,

Twilight Sparkle

After Spike finished writing, he rolled up the scroll and breathed his enchanted fire on it, sending it on its way to Celestia.

"Okay, now we just need to wait until Celestia replies." Twilight said. "We can hang out in the throne room until she does. Spike, can you go make some breakfast?"

"Sure thing!" Spike exclaimed, running out the door towards the kitchen.

"And Starlight? Can you go get us some towels from the bathroom to, uh, cover ourselves up?"

"No problem." answered Starlight, making her way out the door. The three former ponies followed her, a bit calmer than earlier and filled with hope.

* * *

(About thirty minutes later, in the throne room)

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were sitting on their thrones. They each had towels with them, which were covering their hips in order to conceal themselves a bit, and ice packs on their knees. Starlight was sitting in her own chair. She had more towels next to her in case anypony else with this problem showed up. They were waiting for Spike to finish making breakfast and for Celestia to write back. Twilight was behind her throne, pacing back and forth in worry.

"Quit yer frettin', Twi." she said, "Celestia will write back to us as soon as she finds a solution."

"But she never takes this long." Twilight replied with panic in her voice. "She usually responds to my letters in a few minutes!"

"Yah, but this isn't a usual situation." Rainbow comforted. "She probably just wants to make sure she's got everything right. Once she does, she'll write to us, and then we'll go back to our normal lives."

Twilight took a deep breath to calm her nerves. "You're right, girls. I'm just a little freaked. I'm sure that this will be sorted out soon." She sat down in her throne. When she did, she gestured to the appendages on her back hooves. "You were right, Applejack. Walking on our knees instead of these things is more comfortable." Then she grunted and started what the group had assumed to be knees. "Unfortunately, you were also right about them being sore after a while."

"I'll go get some more ice packs." offered Starlight. Before she could get up, though, a new being entered the room.

"TWILIGHT!"

The figure in question was concealed by a cloak. Once it was inside, it shook off the hood to reveal that it had purple, curly hair and a shocked look on its face. Twilight, who had calmed down some, could now recognize the being easily. "Rarity, I see you've been transformed too."

"I KNOW!" she exclaimed. "IT'S HORRIBLE! WE'VE ALL BEEN TURNED INTO SOMETHING HIDEOUS!"

"I don't know. I think it's pretty neat."

The voice caused Rarity to jump. Looking behind her, everypony could see another creature like them with fluffy, pink hair and a large smile on her face. It didn't take a genius to figure out this was Pinkie Pie, who seemed to be taking her transformation a lot better than the rest of them.

"Hmm," Twilight pondered. "If the rest of you are here, then maybe…" Twilight looked down the hall to see if her shy friend had come as well. After a few seconds, she located something with pink hair shivering behind a column. "Fluttershy, I know you're down there. Its okay, we're all in the same boat so you don't have to be afraid. No one will stare or treat you differently."

The being, confirmed to be Fluttershy, came into view. She was still shaking a bit and had her head down, but she managed to be brave and make her way over to her friend. When they were close enough, Twilight wrapped her shy friend in a hug to comfort her.

"There, there, Fluttershy," comforted Twilight, "everything's going to be fine."

"Fine? FINE?!" yelled Rarity. "This is the opposite of fine! We have been turned into who knows what and have no idea why!"

"Chill, Rares. You're scaring Fluttershy." Applejack said, trying to comfort her friend. "Listen, there's no reason to panic. We've already sent a letter to the princess. When she responds, we'll be able to fix all of this." She walked Rarity over to her throne. "Till then, just sit down and relax."

Starlight came over to Rarity with her towels in her magic and levitated one to her. "Here, you'll want one of these."

"Why would I want that?" Rarity asked.

"Cause your unmentionables aren't covered up by anything."

Rarity looked down at her body and confirmed what Starlight said. "Of course." she groaned, taking a towel in her mouth and setting it down on her lap. While she got it positioned properly, Starlight went around to give towels to the others.

"Applejack's right, everypony." Twilight said. "This will all be solved soon. Let's just wait here until she does. I'll go check on Spike to see how breakfast is coming."

At that moment, Spike burst through the door. He had pushing a cart that was covered by a cloth. Once he got to the map, he started his speech. "Fillies and … fillies. Allow me to present to you your breakfast:" he then yanked the cloth off the cart to reveal several muffins on top of it. "haymuffins!" The ponies in the room voiced how thankful they were. They would have clapped, but their current situation made that difficult. Spike walked over to Rarity with a small plate of muffins. "Here, Rarity. I made these without hay, because you told me you were on a diet."

"Oh, Spikey-Wikey, what a gentledragon." she said.

"Rarity, you've been turned into an unknown creature and you're worried about your weight?" asked Rainbow.

"Hmff, A dilemma like this is no reason to forget my figure." she responded.

Pinkie bounced over to the cart. "Thanks Spike, these look delicious!" she said, and stuck out her tongue. A few seconds past, as if she was waiting for something to happen. Pinkie was confused. "Phat's veirb," she said, putting her tongue back, "my tongue won't stretch. It usually stretches so I can pick up a muffin without my hooves." She then bent forward and put her mouth around as much of the muffin as possible, then took a bite out of a muffin. "And I can't eat it in a single bite either." She then took on a serious look, something not commonly seen on Pinkie. "You know, at first I thought this was going to be fun, but now I want Celestia to hurry up and write back."

As if life agreed with what Pinkie was saying, Spike burped out green fire and a scroll. He unrolled it to read it. "It's from Celestia!" Everypony in the room turned to give him their undivided attention. Spike cleared his throat and began to read.

Dear Twilight,

I apologize for the wait, but I wanted to confirm my news with my sister before writing back.

"Ha, I told you." interrupted Rainbow Dash in a cocky tone. "Absolutely no reason to worry."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Spike said, before continuing in a less hopeful tone.

Unfortunately, neither I nor my sister have encountered any creature with the characteristics you've described. Until now, we had believed that all creatures had some connection to magic. To learn that one exists that doesn't is surprising. We will consult with the local experts in cryptozoology and continue to do research here in Canterlot, but I'm afraid that there is nothing we can do to help you at this moment.

My advice is this: find the source of this change. It may help to discover a counter spell or a cure. Until you can, learn as much as you can about these creatures. Not only will this give us more information to work with in our research, but it will also help you adjust to this change and continue your lives as normal.

Best of wishes to you,

Princess Celestia

Everypony around the room had a look of despair on their faces. They had all placed their faith in Celestia, and she was just as confused as they were. They all pondered this news in silence, until Pinkie spoke up.

"So, is it okay to panic now?"

Before anypony could start, Starlight spoke up. "No, you are not going to panic. Listen, you guys are the heroes of Equestria. You've saved ponies from dozen of threats, including me. If anypony can figure out how to fix this, it's you!" She levitated the muffins and passed them out to her friends. "Now, we are going to eat these muffins, then figure out as much about these bodies and the spell that made this happened as possible. Together, we'll be able to transform you back before you know it!"

Her speech inspired the once-ponies to perk up and gain some hope. Twilight looked at her student proudly, glad to see that her lessons have paid off. As she and the rest of her friends began to eat, Rainbow spoke up.

"Starlight's right. Nothing bad is going to happen."

* * *

(20 minutes later)

"Uhhhhhggg, my stomach."

This was the collective feeling in the lounge area. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Twilight were laying around the room, folding what had replace their front legs over what they thought was their stomachs. They all felt queasy and made no sudden movements else the feeling got worse.

"Geeze Spike, what did you put in those muffins?" asked Applejack.

"Same things I always do," he answered defensively, "milk, flour, eggs. They've never caused any upset stomachs before."

"Maybe, but our stomachs are different now." said Twilight. "Maybe something in them doesn't agree with these bodies. But what?"

"Well, Rarity isn't sick." Fluttershy pointed out.

"You put something different in her muffin, Spikey-Wikey?" Rainbow accused.

"What? No!" Spike defended. "Only difference between Rarity's muffin and yours was that hers didn't have hay in it."

With that statement, Twilight's eyes widened in realization and she shot up. "THAT'S IT!" she exclaimed. Then she held her stomach and groaned. "Uuuuhhgg."

"What's it, Twi?" asked Rarity.

"Hay." answered Twilight. "We all ate muffins with hay in them, but you didn't. These new bodies must not be able to digest hay."

"Wait a minute." said Rainbow, sitting up on the couch to look at Twilight, "you mean to tell me we can't _anything_ with hay in it?"

Pinkie's eyes grew wide with panic. "No haymuffins? No hayfries? NO HAYBURGERS?!" she asked, with her voice rising with each question.

"I'm afraid not." Twilight answered depressingly.

Each of Twilight's friends stared at her. The look they all shared said that they had realized the same thing: that this was going to be a much more difficult experience than they first thought. Not just because they couldn't eat hay, but because that was probably only the first of many changes they would have to endure. After several moments in silence, each one feeling like an eternity, Rainbow Dash plopped down on the couch and spoke. "I was wrong earlier."

"'bout what, sugarcube?" asked Applejack.

"Several bad things are going to happen!"

 **Author's Note:**

 **Sorry for the long wait. I had set a goal to post at least one chapter per week, but between Dragoncon, Labor Day, my dad's birthday, and plain old procrastination, I am just now getting this done. Nevertheless, I have finished, I like this chapter, and I have a new understanding of why some people can go weeks without updating.**

 **Now, notes. This is my longest chapter yet, but might not be the longest chapter in this story. In this story its quality over quantity, so a chapter will contain what it needs in order to be good, not a certain length. That said, most, if not all, will probably be at least a thousand words.**

 **With this chapter, we've covered the opening freak out and ruled out the obvious solution: ask Celestia to fix it. Starting next chapter, our characters will start learning the details of what it means to be human.**

 **As always, tell me how I'm doing with grammar, characterization, etc. so I can continue to improve both my work and this story.**


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